App-etite for employment
‘Tinder for job seekers’ app swipes into Austin for U.S. debut
Looking for a job can feel like looking for someone to date. There’s the courting and the meeting and the getting to know each other and finally, perhaps, the cohabitating or even marrying.
It makes sense, then, that an app has come along that’s been billed as the “Tinder for job seekers.” The Toronto-based company behind the Swob job app has debuted in Austin — its first foray into the U.S. market.
Swob, shorthand for “swipe job,” relies on dating-app functionality to simplify searching for and applying for jobs in the Austin area. Somebody hunting for a job can swipe right for positions they want to pursue and swipe left for positions they don’t want to pursue. The free app is available from the Apple and Google Play stores.
“There is a lot of opportunity in Austin with many people looking for work, especially post-pandemic with businesses back up and running,” Swob co-founder Alexander Florio says in a July news release. “Swob is not only helping job seekers get hired faster, but we’re helping employers hire faster as well. Our goal with Swob is to make finding a job as easy as possible.”
Users of Swob create a profile, answer a questionnaire, upload a résumé, and identify their location. Then they’re matched with jobs in the retail, food services, and hospitality industries.
Florio established Swob in 2017 in tandem with Stephanie Florio, his sister. Alexander Florio was frustrated in his job search and thought there had to be an easier way to hunt for work. He also was using the Tinder dating app at the time, and then hatched the idea of marrying Tinder’s ease of use with the process of looking for a job.
“The feedback we received on the idea from both employers and students inspired us to launch the business. We had discovered a problem and created a solution,” Stephanie Florio says.
Swob’s built-in filters present employers with only the most qualified candidates. Employers sign up for the service on a monthly, annual, or pay-as-you-go basis.
